When In New York
by Super Ninja Cupcakes
Summary: what happens when scott and brick are sent to new york by the witness protection program? Will these boys ever find someone to fill the gap left by their friends, families, and homes? M for langueage, violence, blood, and who knows maybe itll end up a smut
1. Chapter 1

"I hate this town." Scott brooded.

"Why?" Brick asked, nearly slipping on the December ice. "This is probably the best place the WPP could send us."

"I hate big cities... I hate that Witness Protection Program... I hate this sucky job we got saddled with..." Scott grumbled.

"Come on," Brick said, "The factory isn't that bad, neither is the Witness Protection deal, Chris gave us a pretty nice-"

"I hate Chris, too..."

"Well we can agree on that... but why hate the factory? We've got the easiest jobs there." Brick pointed out, keeping an eye out for Jay street, where he and Scott lived in the same apartment building.

"You mean the most boring jobs... I hate bookkeeping." Scott griped.

"You hate everything lately." Brick frowned, "Come on, we're lucky to be alive."

"_And_," Scott continued, "I hate that son of a bitch who murdered Blainly right in front of us and was found innocent. What kind of a trial was that anyway?! I swear to god that jury pool was his family and friends."

"We can't just hate this situation, Scott." Brick answered, turning a corner. "We can only hope for the best. Maybe the police will find him guilty of a different crime, or find something incriminating from Blainly's death."

"Ever heard of the fifth amendment? The crime was committed here in America, they can't try this guy twice for the same crime." Scott thought for a moment, "Come to think of it, did we ever find out _who_ they had on trial? I can't remember his face..."

"Me neither... Judy says I repressed it." Brick agreed.

"Your _aunt_ Judy?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

"She's a therapist." Brick shrugged. "And she said it's normal for victims to be a little shaken by incidents like that one."

Scott was silent for a moment, until he spoke up, "Worse things could've happened." Scott pointed out, "Could've been us."

"Yeah, but, why did the two of us end up in that room? Why did we have to stumble on something that bad?" Brick looked at Scott, who hung his head.

"I don't know," Scott sighed loudly, "sometimes things like that happen... people _walk in_ on the _wrong_ things."

Brick looked at Scott with a confused look on his face, "Scott..." Brick didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to read into this. "Is something wrong?"

Scott answered Brick's question with his own, "What makes you say that?" he asked, "Did I _say_ something was wrong?"

Brick's lips formed a thin, straight line. "Well, you seem pretty steamed lately."

"Oh," Scott lifted his head, "It's not like I just spent three years in the trauma chair, came out to my dad, was a victim of kidnapping, had to move to goddamn New York, and-"

"Wait, what?" Brick cut Scott off.

"What, what?" Scott replied.

"What you said."

"Three years in the trauma chair?" Scott repeated.

"No, after that." Brick answered.

"Victim of kidnapping?" Scott guessed.

"No, no, in the middle." Brick said, making beginning-middle-end motions with his hands and arms.

Scott blushed lightly, he hadn't intended to say what Brick was referring to. "I don't believe I said anything in between those two listings..." Scott looked away and continued walking up the street.

Brick stood there for a moment, then shook his head and ran to catch up with Scott. "No, I'm pretty sure you did." Brick insisted.

"Well you're wrong." Scott threw back, hanging his head once again.

"Am I wrong?" Brick said, "Or would I not understand?"

Scott looked up, then at Brick. He had no idea what to say to that. Brick wasn't that kind of person; the kind to observe, the kind to listen. A lot had changed since Total Drama ended, the people had changed. Scott had changed, and so had Brick.

"For argument's sake," Scott began cautiously, "what is it _you_ think I said?"


	2. Chapter 2

Brick's look of concern changed, he hadn't expected Scott to give in to his argument. "Well I though you said..." for some reason, Brick couldn't finish his sentence.

"Come on," Scott pressed, "what'd I say that was so important?"

Brick blinked, "I thought you said, "come out"? To your dad. Did you say that?"

Scott crossed his arms, "Yeah, what of it?"

Brick shrugged, "Just wasn't sure I heard you right."

The two walked in silence for a few blocks before Scott spoke up, "Okay, can we quit ignoring the elephant in the room?"

"What? I thought we'd covered the reasons why you're so grouchy." Brick clarified, not even pausing a step.

Scott stopped walking. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Well I'm sure I did now." Brick stopped as well

"Doesn't it bother you?" Scott raised one eyebrow.

"Does it bother _you_?" Brick asked back.

Scott looked away from Brick, blushing bright red, "A little." he mumbled into his shoulder.

"Well I guess it'll bother you that I'm gay too?" Brick smirked.

Scott's head shot up, "What?" he said, a look of shock plastered on his face.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Brick said, mimicking Scott. He laughed, "I can't believe you hadn't figured it out."

"What about Jo?" Scott asked, "I thought you two were this whole twilight-deal. You two dated didn't you?" Scott's face was still very red.

"Ha! No. She wanted to, but boy did she have a wake-up call when I told _her_." Brick cracked up, "Her face was almost as red as yours."

Scott turned redder.

Brick went into another fit of laughter, "Oh my god your face is redder than your _hair_." he laughed a little more before wiping a tear from his eye, "I gotta say, you're pretty far in the closet. I'd never have guessed it."

Scott rubbed the back of his neck as they began walking again, "Well, you'd have guessed if _you_ had walked in on me like pappy did."

Brick didn't want to ask exactly _what_ pappy had walked in on, so he kept his mouth shut for the time being.

"How'd your folks find out?" Scott asked.

Brick paused, "Mom was okay with it... dad pitched an absolute fit. He basically ignores it now. I told them, and I didn't get the results I hoped for."

"Well, you're lucky you _have_ a mom for it to be okay with. My Ma wouldn't have cared. She's dead now," Scott explained, "scarlet fever, or something. I was eight."

Brick nodded, "My older sister passed away last year. She had cancer. Dad served in the military that year to help pay for her treatment."

"There's something else that sucks," Scott changed the subject, "we can't see our families or friends because of this stupid Witness Protection Program."

"We get to see _some_ of them. The ones that live around here." Brick pointed out, "Like Cameron, he lives on sycamore street."

"Spaz doesn't count." Scott mumbled.

Brick stopped and checked the map, "I think we should be there by now. It's right here on the map." Brick showed Scott the map.

Scott only had to look at the map once before face-palming, "You're reading the map upside-down!"

Brick turned the map around, "Oh... yeah we're way off."

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Just let me see the map, I have a great sense of direction. Scott read the map for a moment, then checked his train schedule. "We've got four hours until the next train comes." he groaned, turning away from Brick to study the map a little more.

"Well," Brick said, picking up a handful of snow, "I guess we have time for this."

Scott blushed bright red, then turned around slowly, wondering what in the hell Brick was talking about- and if Brick were just screwing with his head. Once Scott had turned around, Brick hit him in the shoulder with a snowball. "Hey!" Scott laughed, "Weak aim." he smirked.

"Was that a challenge, farm-boy?" Brick returned the smirk.

"Yeah," Scott picked up some snow and packed it into a ball, "it was." he threw it, hitting Brick in the middle of the chest.

"I'm hit!" Brick exclaimed, he then threw another snowball at Scott, but missed.

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta-" Scott dodged another one.


	3. Chapter 3

After the subway, there was still a good bit of walking between them and the apartment building. Brick and Scott didn't stop laughing the whole way, talking about their friends back home, and from the competition.

"No, no," Scott laughed, "I swear- left hand right hand to god –he shoots the arrow, and it ricochets off a bucket, two metal fence posts, and hits him right in the butt! Me, me and my cousins couldn't stop laughing for like ten minutes!" Scott nearly choked on air, "He couldn't sit for a week and the teachers were like, "Why can't you sit down?" and he could just stand there like, "Uh..." I died in those classes!"

Brick laughed and laughed, not caring how stupid he must've looked to others walking around them.

As the two made it to their way up the gravel walkway to the lobby of their apartment building, Brick was sure the two of them looked like drunken collage students. "Hold on," Scott stopped and pulled a small white box from his pocket. Brick quickly identified these as cigarettes.

"I didn't know you smoked." Brick said, his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, just don't tell my doctor. He'll pitch a fit." Scott lit one up and began smoking it.

"You're crazy," Brick commented, "Smoking. Right out of the ICU and now you're smoking?"

Scott looked at the burning cigarette- smoke curling up and out of it, toxins entering the air -and felt less like he wanted it. Scott dropped his cigarette abruptly and stepped on it to put it out. "Not anymore." Scott answered, directly after putting it out. "Can't afford another pair of lungs."

Brick smiled as they began to walk towards the building again, feeling as if he'd done Scott a small justice.

Their apartment building was more of a complex of buildings, and if you didn't look at a directory you could end up completely lost. Scott made sure he knew _exactly_ where to go this time, so he and Brick wouldn't get hopelessly lost like earlier. "We go up this flight of stairs," Scott pointed to a staircase, "to the second floor, then it's just a ways to the right."

Brick went first when the two of them climbed the stairs, and Scott paid close attention to the directory, making absolutely sure he had where they were going right. "You know," Scott said knowingly, "The witness protection program could at least give us good apartments. I mean, two bedrooms ain't bad but-" Scott stepped on his own shoelace and began to fall backwards, he reached for a handrail or something to help restore his balance, but he fell back anyway.

Scott woke up on his living room couch. Where was he? Why was Brick asleep in the chair three feet from him? Why did his head hurt so much? Scott sat up with a groan. "God, my head." Scott noticed there was a wet rag on his forehead.

Brick woke up to Scott's irritated moan. "Hey." he said, out of pure lack of anything to say.

"How long was I out?" Scott asked, rubbing his throbbing head.

"An hour." Brick answered. "More or less. You got a serious bump on your head. I was afraid you had a concussion."

Scott got a good look at Brick, he had on a plain white undershirt and jeans. Pretty casual for Brick. Brick wore casual well...

"Why are you staring at me?" Brick asked.

Scott willed himself not to blush, "Guess I'm just zoned out." He lied.

"How's your head feeling?"

"Like someone hit me with a steel pipe or baseball bat." Scott complained.

"Yeah," Brick almost laughed, "imagine that, but with a rifle."

"Someone hit you in the head with a rifle?" Scott raised an eyebrow, "When?"

"Military school, we were doing drills. Hurt like a bitch." Brick laughed, "The guy was all, "Oh my god I'm so sorry are you okay?" and I was like, "Oh, it's okay, you just hit me in the head with a gun, but I'll walk it off." the look on his face was priceless."

Scott laughed, despite the shooting pain in his head.

"You want some aspirin or something?" Brick asked.

"Yeah, there's some in the medicine cabinet." Scott pointed in the direction of his bathroom.

Brick got up and exited the living room, bound for the bathroom. Scott sat there for a moment, trying to ignore his pounding head. Scott looked at the clock on the wall, 9:30. He'd have to go to sleep soon if he wanted to be on time for work in the morning. Scott wondered, briefly, how he'd ever been so careless as to trip over his own two feet and bust his head. No, he knew. Scott had been staring at Brick, trying to focus on something or someone other than Brick and the discovery he'd made about Brick. Brick was gay. Brick knew Scott was gay. And the two of them ignored those facts as if they were nothing. As if everyone they knew were okay with it and everything was hunky-dory. Scott's head hurt even worse.

"Found it." Brick walked into the small living room once again, rattling a bottle of aspirin.

"It wasn't lost." Scott teased. He'd picked that one up from his older cousin.

"Touche." Brick tossed Scott the bottle. "Want some water with that?"

"Nah," Scott opened the bottle and swallowed two pills, "Spit works just fine."

Brick got up and walked over to the couch, where he sat next to Scott. "You gonna be okay here?" Brick asked, placing a hand on Scott's shoulder.

Scott couldn't help blushing, now. "Yeah," he answered, "I'll be alright."

"You sure?" Brick asked. He then felt Scott's forehead with the back of his hand. "You feel like you have a fever."

"It's hot in here." Scott answered uncomfortably, "That must be it." _Or it could be you._ Scott pushed those thoughts aside. "I think I just need a cold shower or something. See you on the way to work tomorrow?"

Brick, still concerned, nodded and said, "Sure. I left my number on the coffee table, in case you need something. And I'm only three doors down."

"I'll be okay." Scott reiterated. "But I know who to call just in case." he added quickly, not wanting to sound rude, or like he were rushing Brick to leave. And uh, why don't we get a drink after work tomorrow. There's this nice bar near here."

Brick looked at Scott, puzzled. He wasn't sure if Scott were trying to get rid of him or take him to a candle-lit dinner. "Sure," he answered, "I don't drink that much, but you know."

"Me neither," Scott agreed, "but you know." he smiled.

By the time he fell asleep that night, Scott had memorized Brick's phone number.


	4. Chapter 4

Scott sat at his desk, trying to concentrate on work, whereas other employees had already pretty much given up on work- the staff got a week off for Christmas. Scott couldn't stop thinking about Brick, and that irked him. What Scott couldn't understand was; why was Brick so okay with Scott knowing such a valuable secret about him? Wasn't Brick afraid Scott would tell someone? What made him so sure Scott would keep his mouth shut? Because Brick trusted him? Ha! Scott didn't feel he deserved trust. So _why_ did Brick trust that Scott would keep quiet? _Because,_ Scott thought to himself, _the knows the same thing about me?_

"Hey Scott-y!" a voice interrupted Scott's thinking, "What'cha doin' here? It's six already." Jessica, a co-worker of Scott and Brick's.

"I have a lot of work to do," Scott lied, "busy season."

"Come on," Jessie persisted, "The entire department's gone to Thirsty's for a drink, it's the last day! You and brick are the only ones here!"

"_You're_ here." Scott pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but I had to pick up my purse and get you two lazy bones to come to Thirsty's! It's happy hour."

"At six in the afternoon?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

"It's new york, Scott." Jessie answered with a smirk. She looked up from Scott's cubical and across the room to where Brick was sitting, "Hey Brick!" She called, "Happy hour at Thirs-ty's!"

Brick looked up from his book and smiled, "I'm waiting for Scott." he answered.

"I'm working on Scott over here! I'll get him to go, just you wait!" Jessie promised, "Come on Scott!" She said, directing her attention back to the blush-stricken Scott, "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She gained a devilish grin as she whispered, "You can be alone with Bri-ick!"

Scott's blush deepened, "I walk home with him every day."

Jessie giggled, "You like him." the same way Geoff had teased Courtney about liking Duncan all those years ago.

"I do not like him." Scott whispered back, "And I have work to do."

"Brick and Scotty sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes-" Jessie was cut off in her whisper-singing by the now considerably pissed off Scott.

"Fine, I'll go! Just quit with the singing!" Scott whispered irritably.

"Yay!" Jessie said in her normal tone. She then stood up and shouted to Brick, "Hey! I got him to go! All I had to do was sing at him for a while!" Jessie giggled.

Brick laughed, "Okay, I'll just get my stuff ready."

"Better get ready," Jessie whispered, "Don't wanna keep yo man waitin'."

Scott rolled his eyes as he shut down his computer.

*LINE*

Brick laughed, stumbling around. "Damn that w-was fun!" He slurred, "W-we gotta do thish more often!"

Scott laughed and fell to the ground, pulling Brick down on top of him by (sort of) mistake. "Woops." he laughed.

"Oopsy-daisy." Brick laughed.

Scott blushed, he wasn't half as shit-faced drunk as Brick- but still pretty drunk.

Brick laughed more as he got up off of Scott, "You wanna head home?" Brick was swaying, hardly able to keep his balance.

"S-sure." Scott felt like he were going to throw up. "We g-gotta shober up first though..."

"W-why wait?" Brick shrugged and waved at a cab driver, "Taxi!"

The taxi pulled over to the curb where Scott and Brick were, the man driving rolled the window down and asked, "Where to, guys?"

Brick turned to Scott and squinted, "Where do we live again?"

Scott almost rolled his eyes, but he feared that if he did he'd fall over. "We live at the apartment buildings on East Jay street." Scott explained to the cab driver, "And lemme warn ya, don't-" Scott dry-heaved, "Don't light a match, we're plastered."

The driver rolled his eyes, "I can see that." he looked at the meter, "You sure you got enough to get to Jay street?"

"How much?" Scott asked.

"About sixty bucks."

"What?! Highway robbery." Scott looked at Brick, stumbling around, "Fine. We got enough. Don't expect a tip."

Scott ushered Brick into the back of the cab, then got in behind him.

*LINE*

"Come on Brick, keep your balance." Scott had Brick's arm around his shoulder, trying to get him up the second flight of stairs. "Try to level off of me."

Brick giggled and hiccuped, he had sobered up a little by now, but was still pretty tipsy. "Man, I always knew we'd be f-friends. Ever since we met I knew it."

Scott tried not to fall over as they made their way up the last few steps. "I bet ya did, buddy."

Brick tossed his head back laughing, "Yeah I did."

Scott counted the door numbers, 406, 407, 408, ah 409. Brick's apartment. "Here, Brick, do you have your key?"

Brick checked his pockets, "Nope." he laughed.

Scott let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Guess it's my place then." Scott turned the two of them around and headed for his apartment, 406.

"You know what? We, we should go find Chris and whup his ass!" Brick exclaimed, "Give him what's coming to him so Chef doesn't have to do it."

"Calm down, Brick-house." Scott said, unlocking the door to his appartment.

*LINE*

Brick woke up on Scott's couch the next morning, "Ugh! My head..." he groaned, with splitting head pain and ringing ears.

"Mornin' sunshine." Scott chuckled, walking by Brick with two coffee cups. "Got my family hangover cure right here." Scott handed Brick one of the coffee cups. "Had to make a lot of these after Ma died, Pappy drank a lot."

Brick took a moment to register where he was and who he was speaking with. "Sounds rough." He said, taking the cup from Scott.

"Pff," Scott scoffed, "What, we gonna braid each other's hair now?" he smirked.

Brick sniffed the concoction in his cup, then made a face, "What is in this?" he asked.

"Family recipe, secret." Scott winked, then sipped his drink, "It's not too bad once you actually start drinking it, just sip don't gulp." Scott began to put down his cup, but it slipped out of his hand. "Shit!" Scott exclaimed. He picked up the cup off the floor, and something caught his eye, "Hey, I haven't seen this in ages." he marveled at a red photo album.

Brick, now sipping his hangover remedy, eyed the book inquisitively. "What's that?" he asked.

"Pictures from when I was a kid." Scott explained, opening the book, "Man, this takes me back." Scott sat down on the couch next to Brick. "Ha! I remember this," Scott pointed to a picture in which three boys sat in a fishing boat with a man, all holding tackle boxes and fishing poles. "That's my first fishing trip with Pappy. My older cousins came with us, Justin and Adam." Scott pointed to a little boy with freckles and missing front teeth, "That's me." Scott laughed.

Brick laughed along with Scott, "Man, you were short." he said, "How old were you?"

"Five." Scott answered.

"Really?" Brick asked, "You look younger."

"It's a gift," Scott grinned, "Why do you think I always get carded?" Scott turned the page to a picture of a party, "That was my sixth birthday," he pointed to random faces as he listed names, "Pappy, Roy, Ricky, Luann, Andy, Norma Jean, Justine, Adam, Suzy, Sally, Silvia, me..." Scott looked at the last person for a moment, "And Ma." he said.

"She's beautiful." Brick said.

"Yeah, she was." Scott smiled and turned the page, "Ah, there's me and Bobby. We used to play all sorts of make-believe games with the neighbor kids on that rock." Scott paused, "He's my only _little_ cousin. Man we had so much fun."

Brick watched as Scott's look turned from nostalgia to sadness. "You miss them?"

"Yeah, yeah I do." Scott answered. He closed the photo album. "But hey, I've always got my friends." Scott rolled his eyes.

"I miss my family too. I mean, most of my family pushed me around, treated me like crap. But they're still family." Brick shrugged.

"Well someone has low standards." Scott chuckled, "Be careful, you just might end up with-" he stopped. _You just might end up with me._

Brick waited, but Scott didn't finish. Scott didn't have to finish. Brick knew what he meant, and what he meant by that. _Come on,_ Brick thought, _it's not like I don't feel the same way._ "You know," Brick said thoughtfully, "that doesn't sound like such a bad deal."


	5. Chapter 5

"Chris what the fuck?!" Chef Hatchet yelled, slamming the door behind him. Chef had just gotten Chris's New-York-penthouse address, and had come to confront him.

Chris, on the other hand, had expected this. In advanced, Chris had taken the precautions of a bullet-proof vest, plus a can of mace. "How's it goin', Chef?" Chris asked, trying to be calm. He flipped through the channels until he found one that was showing one of his terrible movies.

"How's it going?! You just got me framed for a murder _I didn't_ commit!" Chef was getting redder and redder.

"You were found innocent, weren't you?" Chris chuckled, then dodged the steak knife Chef threw at him.

*LINE*

Brick and Scott sat at a booth in the coffee shop across the street from their apartment complex, sipping their drinks in silence. Scott couldn't take his mind off of what Brick had said to him earlier, and Brick couldn't help but regret saying it. It seemed to have freaked Scott out a good bit.

Scott almost said something, until the waitress came and asked, "Are you boys doing alright over here?"

In reality, no. No they were not. But Scott put on a happy face for their piggy-tailed intruder. "I'm okay. What about you Brick?"

Brick's voice was groggy from lack of having said anything for a while, "I'm good, thanks."

"Alrighty, just hail me over when you want the check." the waitress said with a barbie-doll smile.

"So," Scott began, "We gonna talk or just marinate in the awkward silence?"

Brick shrugged, "I just hope I didn't freak you out too much back there."

"Why would I be freaked out? I made an opening for a comment like that." Scott looked at the table and bit the inside of his cheek for a moment before saying, "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" Brick asked, as if he didn't know.

"What you said earlier." Scott explained, as if he needed to.

"Oh," Brick said, blushing, "Yeah I did..."

Scott looked surprised, he'd half expected Brick to laugh in his face and tell him he was joking, and that Scott was just _too_ gullible.

"What?" Brick asked looking at Scott's confused face.

"Nothing, I just thought you might be joking."

"Joking?" now Brick looked confused, "Why would I joke about something like that? That's serious!"

"I don't know!" Scott exclaimed, "Some people get a kick out of doing stuff like that."

"Well." Brick said, he didn't have to say anything else.

Things were quiet for a moment, until Scott's cell phone rang. He looked at the screen, didn't recognize the number, but picked up anyhow. "What?" Scott snapped into the phone. His eyes went wide when he heard the voice on the other end, "How'd you get my number? What the hell do you want?" Scott listened for a while, "Well I don't want to see _you_ so leave me alone." Scott snapped his phone shut angrily.

"What was that all about?" Brick asked, happy for the subject change.

"Pappy. He wants to meet up sometime." Scott rubbed his temples

"You gonna see him?" Brick asked.

"Like hell!" Scott answered. Scott was quiet after he said that, even though he had plenty more to say about his father.

Brick waved over the waitress, he said, "Let's get out of here." then paid the girl for their coffees.

*LINE*

After a while of walking in the park, Brick had finally mustered up the guts to ask Scott what he'd been wondering for a while. "What ever happened with you and your dad?" he asked, curious as to why Scott suddenly hated his beloved "Pappy".

"Well," Scott began cautiously, "I had this "friend" and we got pretty close. A little too close I guess. And pappy walked in on us in my room one day, and he kicked me out."

Brick nodded as he listened, steering their walk in the direction of their apartments.

"That's why I was at that Days Inn when we witnessed Blainly's murder. Ain't that a bitch? If I could've went one day without getting caught, I would've gone on with life as if it never happened." Scott paused a moment, then shrugged. "Well, Pappy thinks I'm gonna just break down and come crawling back just because he gives me a lousy "I'm sorry" call. No sir." Scott reached into his pocket and grabbed his cigarettes. He didn't care if Brick didn't want him to smoke, Scott wanted a cigarette, damn it- and it was grounds right now for one, talking about his good-for-nothing dad. He lit one up and started smoking.

Brick bit his lip, not wanting to say anything about Scott smoking. "Well that's understandable," Brick managed.

"Yeah." Scott answered, "Well it wouldn't matter even if I _wanted_ to see him. We can't tell anyone where we live right?" Scott shrugged once more, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah, no, we can't." Brick confirmed, not getting that it was a rhetorical question.

*LINE*

"I can't keep quiet about this, Chris." Chef warned, already having cooled down- that and he'd run out of knives. "We gotta go to the police."

"What?!" Chris jumped up off of the white leather couch and stared- mouth agape, eyes wide with a little spark of fear in them -at Chef in shock and disbelief. "No way! No one can find out who really did it!"

"Well they're gonna find out anyway! That murder was sloppy. Didn't even wear gloves, moron!"

"Hey, if I have any say in it, no one will find out, and I'll make sure everyone stays quiet!"

"Man, I hope you have a plan about what to do with those kids that saw it. They'll tell someone once they remember for sure!" Chef made his point clear.

"Don't you worry." Chris assured him, "I have something planned for them."

*LINE*

Scott couldn't read Brick- which was odd, given his manipulative abilities -the whole walk to their apartments, so he just kept taking drag after drag of his cigarette.

Brick wanted to say something to Scott the whole way home, but didn't. His expression remained unreadable. He was really getting tired of smelling that cigarette, though. It was as if the small roll of tobacco represented something more, like the silence- accept, the silence didn't burn away.

The silence lasted only until the two reached Scott's door. Brick was the first one to speak, "So, you never told me what you thought."

"About what?" Scott asked, confused.

"You know," Brick started, watching Scott stub out his cigarette, "About..."

Brick didn't have to say anything, Scott knew what he meant. But why? Why would Brick bring this up now? Scott, from force of habit, turned his confusion with his emotions to anger. "About what?" he snapped, but felt bad once he saw Brick's saddened face. "I'm sorry." Scott mumbled.

"Don't be." Brick assured him, "It wasn't my place to ask."

_His _"_place"? _Scott asked in his head, _What is this, boot ca-_ Scott cut himself off. Of course Brick would still be clinging to his cadet-style habits, much like Scott did with his moodiness. "Don't worry about it." Scott unlocked his front door and opened it. Without turning around, Scott took a deep, unsteady breath and said, "By the way, it really doesn't sound like such a bad deal." he then hurried inside and shut the door behind him before Brick could respond.

Brick, stunned that Scott had responded at all, cracked a huge smile and did the "yes!" gesture. He then swaggered off to his own apartment, feeling ecstatic.


	6. Chapter 6

Chris never thought it would come to this- his mental health stooping so low as to murder his girlfriend and threaten his only friend's life with the very same revolver. Chef agreed to keep quiet about Blainly's true killer, as long as Chris took care of Brick and Scott- and didn't, of course, kill him in the process. Chris seethed with anger and regret for his beloved Blainly, why now? Why did he go and do it? Why?! Why in the hell- which was where he was going -would he do such a thing? Chris himself couldn't even remember.

*LINE*

Scott was up all night. Not that he _couldn't _sleep, but that he didn't _want _to sleep. Scott feared what he'd dream about, given his current dreams of Brick and his Pappy and that killer who took Blainly. Scott occupied his time by whittling sticks to nothing but wood shavings, watching terrible late-night movies about talking cats, even playing solitaire. No matter how hard he tried, Scott couldn't shake the feeling in his stomach, the warm-and-cold-at-the-same-time, fuzzy feeling. Not even his all-time favorite movie, _Animal Place_.

Brick, on the other hand, slept like a baby. Brick embraced his dreams of Scott, and of his family. Nothing could make him feel bad since last night. Nothing. All Brick felt was this warm, fuzzy feeling left in his stomach by his elated mood.

*LINE*

Cameron struggled with the boxes he was carrying up the stairs. All of his worldly possessions in eight cardboard boxes. Cameron had everything he needed outside of his office in those eight boxes. He had to rely on furnished apartments, though, like the ones on East Jay. The East Jay Apartment Complex was his newest abode. Apparently the landlord at his old place didn't approve of him doing cold-fusion on residential property. Go figure.

Cameron lived in apartment 410, thanks to his recent eviction. Cameron hated stairs, hated having to walk all that way because he hadn't anyone to help- Cameron's dear mother had passed away. An infection. Ha! If Norma were alive, she'd laugh about her own way to go.

Cameron's train of thought was interrupted by a familiar voice, a voice from the past. "Cameron?" it said. Cameron looked out from behind the heavy box- he was still very short -and saw a familiar face.

"Brick?" Cameron asked, putting down the box, "Man, it's been long." he walked towards Brick, who- out of habit -saluted Cameron happily.

"Hey, Cam." Brick answered, newspaper in hand, "How's it goin'?"

"Fine," Cameron lied, "How's fashion school?"

Brick blushed at the familiar notion, "I had to drop out... Family complications."

Cameron smirked, "Dad call ya a faggot?"

Brick froze. Was this really Cameron he was talking to? Damn. He must've grown up quite a bit. "Uh, yeah. But that isn't why."

Cameron raised his eyebrows, he'd only meant it as a joke. "Oh," he managed, "Well... I got a lot of stuff to move upstairs sooo..." Cameron walked back to his previous spot and picked up his box.

Bricked shrugged off his small conversation and headed back inside.

*LINE*

Chris paced back and forth on his terrace, thinking about the options he had. Kill Brick and Scott? Not yet, but soon. Kill Chef? No, he had no alibi. Jump off his sixteen-story high terrace and make it all easy for him? No, too obvious. Chris thought of what might happen if he did jump as he stared down at the sidewalk so far below him. _Maybe,_ Chris thought, _I'll do that later. Plan B,_ he decided.

Plan A had already gone into action, though. Soon Brick and Scott would either be dead, or scarred straight out of New York.

*LINE*

Jessie was bored, to put it in simplest terms. So she'd decided to pay a visit to her work buddies. She noticed that Scott had both of the windows covered by black curtains and half-shut blinds. _Wow, _Jessie thought, _he must be really sleepy. _

Jessie decided to go to Brick's place first, and see if he were up yet. She rang the doorbell a few times before Brick finally came and answered the door. "Hey," he said, "What's up, Jess?"

"Nothin'." Jessie answered, "Just came to visit you guys. Scott here? Nah, he's probably home, isn't he?" Jessie grinned the way she did, like an excited child, such bright eyes and a smile so innocently happy.

"Oh, yeah he probably is." Brick answered.

"Well, hurry up and get dressed, I'm takin' you boys out today." Jessie gushed, "We're gonna have a good time! Christmas eve, woo!" she grinned and said, "I'm gonna go wake Scott up."

With that, Jessie scurried off to Scott's door and began knocking loudly. Scott heard her instantly and hurried to the door he looked through the peep-hole, smiled, and rolled his eyes. He opened the door and said, "Ah, Jessica, what a wonderful surprise." only half kidding.

Jessie giggled, "Hey, Scotty." She grinned, "I'm taking you and Brick out today, we're gonna have fuuun!"

"I bet we will." Scott answered sarcastically.

"Ooo, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Jessie laughed her infectious laugh, which soon got Scott laughing as well.

"Okay, okay." Scott put his hands up, "I'll go, if only to make you happy. Give me ten minutes."

"Can I come in?" Jessie asked.

"Per your request," Scott answered, moving out of the way for Jessie.

Jessie did a quick-scan of the room, his living room connected with his kitchen, each were equally bare and unoriginal. "What, no decor Scotty?" Jessie chided, looking over the crème-colored walls for any sign of a photo, art, even a poster. Not a one.

"Not really." Scott answered., walking to his bedroom to get dressed. "Try not to break anything."

"I am not accident prone!" Jessie threw her hands up in an exclamatory gesture, "I don't know where people get that from..." She ran her hands through her black crew-cut and sat down on the couch, waiting for Scott to be ready.

Scott threw on his black T-shirt that said "jerk" in comic sans font and his wranglers. Next Scott lifted his arm and sniffed, "Yup," he gagged, "definitely gonna need some deodorant." he coughed.

"I can smell you all the way in here, pit-sniffer!" Jessie shouted, having heard Scott. She laughed, "There's this new thing, it's called showering!"

"Very funny!" Scott called back, rolling his eyes and applying the pit-stick. "Okay," Scott said, stepping out of his bedroom, then added, "I'm ready." as he walked down the hall back into the living room.

"You're wearing that?" Jessie asked, looking Scott over.

"Yeah," Scott answered, looking _himself_ over, "What's wrong with this?"

"Honey, Brick's coming. And you're gonna wear a jerk T-shirt with a ketchup stain on it and some ratty old jeans?" Jessie asked, making sure to add emphasis to "Brick's coming".

Scott thought it over a moment, "I guess I could change shirts..."

Jessie giggled, "You like him."

"No I don't!" Scott threw back, already red in the face- both from anger, and seething embarrassment. Was he really _that_ transparent?

"Yes you do." Jessie laughed, "Hey, Jessie don't judge." She grinned, "Besides you two are a cute couple."

"We're _not_ a couple!" Scott corrected.

"Sure, not _now_ anyways, but you will be. I just know it." Jessie grinned smugly.

Scott rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna go see what's keeping Brick." Jessie stood up and was about to leave, but Scott stopped her.

"Wait," Scott said, "Help me?"

Jessie grinned, "Per your request." she said happily, making her way towards Scott's bedroom.

By the time the two were finished, Scott had on some fairly new Levis, a clean shirt, and had gelled his hair back. Jessie had _made_ Scott shave off what little hair he had on his upper lip. "Scott," she'd said, "Boys- as well as girls -hate kissing boys with facial hair, especially when they _can't grow facial hair_!" Scott had turned bright red. She wasn't wrong, after all. Scott's first "companion" had facial hair that was seriously uncomfortable on Scott's end of the kiss. Plus, Scott _couldn't grow facial hair._

Jessie practically had to drag Scott to Brick's apartment. _He must be nervous_, she decided as she rang the doorbell once more.

When the door opened, Brick appeared wearing possibly the most "I'M GAY DEAL WITH IT" outfit Scott had ever seen. Brick was wearing _white jeans_ for God's sake. Scott had seen Brick wear khakis before, but this, this was something else. Scott tried not to stare, or blush, as he fidgeted and waited for Jessie to say something.

Jessie punched Scott on the shoulder and said, "Well? Come on. Address your date." she gestured at Brick with an unreadable poker face.

Scott, however, wasn't trying to read her poker face. He was concentrating on killing her with his mind. "uh.." was all Scott could manage.

Jessie groaned, "Fine! I'll talk first, wussy." she smirked. "So Brick, you up for a movie? I'm thinking the new Twilight!" Jessie then looked at Scott and said, "There, was that so hard?"

Scott nodded uncomfortably, "Yeah, kinda..." he mumbled quietly.

Jessie cocked her eyebrows and seemed to change her stance to the "COME AT ME BRO! I'LL FUCK YOU UP FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY OWW!" pose, then looked Scott square in the eye and said, "Boy you need some work," in an exasperated tone. Brick giggled behind her.

Scott turned red, only making Brick laugh more, and Jessie start losing her poker face as well. "Can we leave now?" Scott asked

"Pff, whatever." Jessie smiled and walked ahead of the boys, so that all they could do was walk next to each other.

*LINE*

Chris looked around, making sure he wasn't being watched. Of course, it would add some more fun to his task ahead if someone did. He grinned and pulled the black hood once more over his head and slung the large-ish duffel bag over his shoulder. Looking around once more, he walked up to the door and used a hair pin and a paper clip to pick the lock.

"The bastard wont see anything coming" he muttered under his breath as he eased the door open and carefully stepped inside.

*LINE*

Scott was blushing as they sat at the local diner eating lunch. Nearing the end of the movie- when Carlisle was killed by Alec -Brick had squealed, grabbed Scott's hand, and held it to his chest. Scott had been able to feel Brick's frantic heartbeat as the fight progressed and finally the sigh of relief as they found it was only one of Alice's visions. Brick hadn't, however, let go of his hand. Scott dismissed this as- if in the event of another decapitation -Brick would want a hand to hold onto.

Jessie had been no different, except that she had more of a iron grip and was crying until the movie ended.

"No. Just... No!" Jessie had said half to herself as they left. "They just cant do that to us, dude I almost had a friggin heart attack!" She turned and grabbed a random stranger by the shoulders. "A. HEART. ATTACK!" she said slowly and shook the frightened person violently.

"Jess. Let her go" Scott had sighed and pried Jessie's hands off of the terrified girl's shoulders.

Jessie had come to her senses and winked at the girl, "call me" she mouthed as the girl literally ran away into the crowd. A second later, a man wearing all black had accidentally bumped into Jessie- who, after the performance at the end of the movie, had gotten considerably pissed. Jessie said, "Hey, watch it." the man mumbled a quick apology before following the perhaps emotionally scarred girl's lead into the sea of bodies.

And then there was what had happened even _before_ the movie. When the three had paid for the tickets, the acne-spackled kid working the ticket booth had asked, "So who's the third wheel?" and winked. Jessie practically had to wire her jaw shut to keep from exclaiming, "I AM!" But Brick and Scott took care of that for her by blurting out (_in unison_) "It's not a date!" then Jessie required a wired jaw to keep from laughing as she paid the kid.

*LINE*

Scott yawned as he walked to his door. He glanced sideways at Brick who was unlocking his door just down the indoors-outdoors hallway, he looked like a sleepy child, heading upstairs to bed. Brick yawned, rubbed his eyes, and entered his apartment. Scott jerked his head back to the matter at hand, his door. Scott found it increasingly hard to concentrate on things like this.

*LINE*

Chris sat patiently in the kitchen of the small living space he'd broken into, awaiting his target. Awaiting his prey.

**Author's note: DUN DUN DUNNNN! lol! You guys are gonna have to wait and see what happens! ^^ So how'd I do? Review please!**


	7. Chapter 7

Jessie reached for her doorknob, hoping she'd left her door open. Yes! Thank god she had, Jessie had forgotten her key inside. She could've sworn she'd locked it, though. _Oh well, _she thought, _better than being locked out._

"Honey, I'm home!" Jessie called, hearing only an echo in response. Jessie lived alone, so this was normal. The upside was, despite neighbors complaining, she could sing as loud as her heart desired without someone telling her to be quiet. She began to sing "Making You Love Me" by Fame Town. Fame Town was Jessie's all-time favorite '80s boy-band. "Making trouble is easy to do," She sang, "But making you love me, is painfuuuuuul!" She sang out.

Chris cringed at the sound of Jessie's vocals, he'd written them so long ago.

Jessie finished off the song as she stepped into the hallway leading to her kitchen. She stopped and turned the thermostat up to 80, it was cold. It was dark, too. Jessie didn't bother turning on the light as she opened the refrigerator, yawning as she did so. She scanned the contents for something edible. Mostly all that was there was what leftovers her mother had given her so she wouldn't starve to death during the holidays. She sighed and took a cup of yogurt from the top shelf and opened the lid, keeping the refrigerator door open with her right hip. When Jessie stood upright, she dropped the small cup of yogurt with a scream.

Chris grinned. "Why hello there. Were you expecting someone?" he chuckled and twirled a knife skillfully in one hand.

Jessie backed up into the fridge. "Who the hell are you!" she demanded, but her voice was quiet and squeaky, much to her annoyance.

"Name's Chris. And you are Jessie." he said, pointing to her with the knife. "You may ask what I'm doing here? Simple. I need names, and you are going to give them to me."

"I ain't gonna give you _shit_!" she yelled, her voice full of venom. "Now get the fuck out of my house or ill call the cops!"

Chris laughed, "I don't think that's even possible." he pointed to a table where all of the house phones had been gathered and the batteries taken out, then the actual phones had been melted in a pan. "You were certainly gone long enough. Personally, I hate the twilight movies though. Although, I didn't really see Brick and Scott ever getting together." he smiled sweetly.

Jessie started to Hyperventilate. Chris's smile disappeared and he picked up a white cylinder off of the counter. "Asthma; one of the largest killers of children ages nine to thirteen." he stated and tossed the inhaler to her.

She grabbed it out of the air quickly and took a hit off the inhaler. Her breathing slowed and she slid to the ground. She stared forward, almost dreamily. "This isn't happening. No, this cannot be happening." she murmured.

Chris walked over and crouched next to her, "Oh, it's happening. Now, would you mind telling me the names of the people who work with you?"

Her gaze snapped upward and she slapped him hard across the face. Or rather, she tried to. Just before her hand connected with his face, it stopped, her wrist stuck in Chris's firm grasp.

"I don't think you want to do that." His eyes darkened and he stood up, hauling her to her feet along with him. He walked, still pulling her by her arm, to the living room. He pushed her and she tripped and half fell, half sat down on the couch. "Names!" he demanded, pulling a jackknife out of a sheath on his belt.

"No!" she persisted. "Not if it will harm my friends!" she spat, her voice like venom.

Chris shrugged, "I was going to consider letting you live. Oh well." he said almost half-way sad as he advanced with the knife raised in his hand.

*LINE*

"Hmm, Rafi. He should be easy to find." Chris muttered as he took off his gloves and dropped them on the fire he had blazing in the living room. He kneeled down and held the blade of his bloodied knife into the flames. The blood started to evaporate and he sat there for a while until he was satisfied with the result. He grabbed the limp arm of Jessie and pressed the red-hot tip to her forearm, and started to burn a message into the stone-cold flesh. When he finished, he walked over to his duffel bag. He packed up his knives and looked around once more to make sure he forgot nothing. He grinned at the massive blood pool around the couch where he had killed the girl, and then he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked out of the house.

He took a phone out of his pocket and pressed a button. It rang once and was picked up on the other end. "Hey. I need you to search the company records for a first name "Rafi"." he said and was quiet for a minute. "Okay. I got it." He hung up and got into a black SUV on the curb and drove off- thinking of how Jessie had fought back, calling him every swear word in the book and then some, threatening to haunt him, saying he'd never get away with it.

*LINE*

The next morning, Christmas morning, there was a stony silence that was usually replaced by the happy voice of Jessica, singing her out-of-date tunes to her iPod. The neighbors, an elderly couple, had come to check on what was the matter. The scene was horrifying, disgusting, terrible. The wife had exclaimed, "Dios Mio!" and called the police with her cell phone. The husband had to run out of the house so not to hurl on the spot. Neither had the slightest clue what had happened, but did know that it wasn't good at all.

*LINE*

Scott received a call, one that he half expected to be Jessie, and was devastated. "Sir," said the detective on the other end, "we need you and your friend Mr. McArthur to come down to the station right away." Scott held it together for a few seconds after hanging up, then completely lost it. Scott threw his land-line phone at the wall, shattering it to pieces, then knocked over his kitchen chairs, punched a wall, and ended up broken down crying in the middle of his living room.

Brick had also gotten the call, and decided it best to go see Scott immediately. Knowing Scott, the neighbors probably thought _he_ was committing a murder for all that screaming and yelling. Brick knocked on Scott's door, trying to hide the fact that he'd been crying his eyes out.

Scott heard the knock and immediately pulled himself together, being a natural response to the possibility of _anyone_ seeing him cry. Scott opened the door and saw Brick. The two were quiet for what seemed like an eternity before Brick spoke up.

"The police told me." Brick stated, trying desperately to keep a stiff-upper-lip, as he'd always been trained to do.

Scott took in a sharp breath and began to cry again. All Brick could think to do was hug- and cry with -him. Scott tried not to cry so much, but how could he not?

*LINE*

When they arrived on the scene, a police officer gave the two boys paper bags. Whatever awaited them, they'd thought, must be pretty bad. Oh, and it was. Brick immediately had to make use of the bag the cop had given him, and Scott couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. All Scott could do was stare at Jessie's body, and the message on her arm.

You're Next

**Author's note: Yeah, I went there. Review please!**


	8. Chapter 8

A wake was held a week after Jessie's murder. Jessie had planned her own funeral and wake a while back, and her parents executed it perfectly. Happy, joyful music was played, stories about her were exchanged, and pizza was served instead of the usual gross delly sandwiches. Each of Jessie's friends and family members went up, one at a time, saying a few words about Jessie.

Scott said things about Jessie that most people would- she was a good person, she was smart, she was funny, she helped me out. He didn't cry, didn't lose his temper (again), didn't even show any emotion at all- poker face all the way.

Brick's speech, however, didn't go as well. He stepped up, wearing his almost all black ensemble that Jessie had talked him into buying a few weeks earlier, and started speaking with much- _much_ -more emotion than Scott had, it was clear Brick was holding back tears as he said, "She was a very happy person."

"Yeah!" a voice called from the crowd, and up stood a man who just _looked_ like he'd had a few too many. "She was happy, and she loved everything!" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Scott stood up quickly and tried remaining calm as he said, "That's enough, man."

The drunk ignored Scott all together as he continued, "She loved being a lonely lesbian who lived on the wrong side of town, had a shitty job at a condom factory,"

Scott raised his voice as he mad his way toward the man, getting angrier by the moment. "I said that's enough!" Scott shouted.

"And she loved the fact that her only two friends in the world were a couple of faggots, she-" the drunk was cut off by a right-hook from Scott.

*LINE*

"I have a feeling I'm not invited to the funeral." Scott chided, holding an ice pack to his forehead.

Brick almost laughed, "He deserved it, though."

"Yeah, but I didn't know he was her uncle, I might have cut him some slack." Scott answered.

Brick really had to keep himself from laughing, now. "No you wouldn't. You should've seen yourself when Jessie's dad and brother were holding you back." He chided, "I thought you might actually have killed the guy.

*LINE*

"Here's something," Chef pointed to his computer screen. "Rafael Giovanni."

"Well," Chris grinned, "Guess Rafi's gonna get some company."

*LINE*

Two weeks later, things had pretty much returned to normal- life goes on, as they say. Traffic went as traffic went, Brick and Scott went to work as they used to- thought there was a certain emptiness to it. New years passed as usual, even without someone to sing old songs and wear all the new-years dollar-store gear around the office, making everyone laugh.

There was an empty cubical in the office, a moldy ham-and-cheese in the break room's fridge, and sad looks on all of the faces. Rafi, who had always hated Jessie (though no one could see why), loved to rub it in their faces, especially the helpless Brick and bad-tempered Scott.

"So," Rafi said loudly, looking at Scott with a smug grin, "I heard you punched a guy out at a funeral 'cause he called you a fag."

Scott wasted no time. He grabbed Rafi's tie (half-choking him) and said, "I punched him out because he was talking trash about Jessie. See where that gets people?" he yanked Rafi's tie once more before letting him go.

Rafi acted as if he were fine as he moved on to Brick, visible from Scott's work space. "And what, pray-tell, were _you_ doing when your boyfriend went gingers-gone-wild?"

_He did _not_ just make a ginger joke. _Scott thought, watching Rafi harass Brick.

Rafi, though he was _obviously_ queer as a three-dollar-bill, liked to comment on people's sexuality. (Ironically, most of the people who worked there were gay, of course there were straight men and women dying to test the products) Rafi said to brick (who was trying his best to ignore Rafi's comments), "Hey, you gonna answer?"

"Not really." Brick snapped.

"Uh-oh, looks like we got a bad-ass up in here!" Rafi said sarcastically, putting his hands in the air.

"Rafi will you shut up?" Someone- Carol maybe? Scott couldn't tell -shouted from the other side of the room. "God, you're giving us all headaches and Scott is like, destroying the keys on his computer!" she griped.

Scott hadn't even noticed, but he was typing angry- really angry -and it was awfully loud. It was a small room, after all, but Scott's typing was audible to everyone. Scott felt eyes on him, so he turned it into a joke. "Yeah, I'm practicing for Rafi's face...?" it wasn't a very good one, but still.

A wave of chuckles, and a few groans, went over the room. "You go boy." Said a voice from a ways left of Scott.

Rafi continued picking Brick apart piece by piece as the co-workers began to talk again, and phones started ringing. "Well," Rafi said tauntingly, "Did you even try to stop him? Or were you just happy prince charming saved you?"

Scott could see Brick turning redder as he slumped into his seat and continued typing. Scott couldn't sit back and watch this anymore, so he said something he would undoubtedly regret later on. "Sounds like someone's jealous!" Scott declared, wearing a coy smirk.

Rafi and Brick's heads snapped in Scott's direction, and after one silent instant, the room erupted with laughter. After this, all Rafi could think to do was walk away, so he hurried back to his desk. Brick mouthed, "Thank you" to Scott, who just winked in response.

*LINE*

Cameron was working on his latest project, a performance-enhancing drug that he'd been tweaking since the first few tests with the mice. He accidentally bumped the cage, sending it, and the mice, flying. The mice escaped, and Cameron managed to catch all but one of them. "Gah! Algernon! Come back!" He yelled, to no avail. The mouse- named Algernon -crawled into a heating duct, where he began to crawl up into the labyrinth of other heating ducts. "No!" Cameron yelled, his eyes darted to the clock, 6:10. It would be time for testing in twenty minutes. "Crap! I need this data!" Cameron looked at the size of the duct and muttered, "I wonder..."

*LINE*

"I cannot believe you said that!" Brick laughed as they made their way up the stars to their floor.

"Please, please," Scott answered, hands raised, "No applause."

"Dude, his face was priceless! He was like, "uh, uh.. I gotta go" ha!" Brick went on, "Perfect!"

"I try." Scott said, his tone dripping with fake modesty. "He had it coming, too."

"I can't believe no one decided to do something like that before you. He deserved it." Brick agreed.

They stopped at Scott's door. Scott said, "Hold on," and pulled something from his pocket. "I made this for Jessie's memorial." He placed the small wooden "J" in Brick's hand.

Brick examined the J further, it was beautifully designed, and expertly carved. _Scott must've spent forever on this. _Brick thought. "It's really pretty." Brick said, not terribly over-thinking his use of the adjective "pretty".

"Thanks." Scott answered, "I got bored the other day and figured, why the hell not?" Really, Scott had spent days on it, but Brick didn't need to know that.

Brick handed Scott the J and said, "It's considerate, you doing that. Most people only leave some cheap ass stuff from the dollar store."

Scott thought Brick was purposefully trying to make him cry, or blush, or both. "Yeah, well..." He answered, looking at the ground.

Brick lifted Scott's chin, kind of startling Scott in the process, and said, "No, really. It's nice." Scott froze for a moment, sort of caught in Brick's smile- Brick's eyes, too. The way he held the gaze. Brick put his arms around Scott in a tight bear-hug. "I don't think anyone else would've done that."

Scott quickly realized that Brick wasn't _just_ talking about the little wood-carved J, but also how Scott stood up for Brick- more than once. Once Brick let go- or at least, loosened his grip so he could look at Scott -Scott blushed hard, Brick was looking at him weird, with a smile he didn't recognize.

Brick leaned in closer to Scott, slowly closing his eyes. Scott did the same, his lower lip quivering.

*LINE*

Cameron looked at his watch, six-twenty. "Algernon!" He called, "Algernon come on!" suddenly, Cameron spotted a movement up ahead, "Algernon?" He asked, crawling towards what he assumed to be his lab-rat.

*LINE*

Scott had never felt this way before. Brick's lips were soft, his arms were strong- but gentle, he made Scott feel safe. At the same time, though, Scott felt visible, out in the open. It was Brick's judgment to pass, and Scott was afraid of it. Good and bad all at once, like standing on the edge of a cliff.

Scott, without breaking the kiss, or opening his eyes, opened his door and lead Brick inside, where the fell in a heap on the couch. The two laughed when their heads bumped together.

*LINE*

Cameron crawled as fast as he could, and reluctantly caught Algernon. "Gotcha!" Cameron exclaimed victoriously, though his moment didn't last long. Cameron heard an ominous crackling sound.

*LINE*

Brick and Scott were still on the couch, minding- you might say -their own business, when they heard a cracking sound. Brick lifted his head, "Did you hear that?" he asked, looking around.

"Yeah," Scott answered, "but I'm sure it's nothing." he took Brick's face in his hands needfully.

That very second, the ceiling over the open space in the kitchen (perfectly visible from the living room) came crashing down, a heating duct failed, and out popped Cameron, holding a little white ball of fur in his hand. Unharmed, Cameron stared at Brick and Scott. Everything was silent, accept for a few stray pieced of the ceiling falling.

Brick and Scott looked at each other, exchanging looks that meant, "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?" then looked back at Cameron.

Scott didn't know whether to be embarrassed or pissed. At the moment, though he felt more embarrassed. "Uh..." He said, "Rape...?"

Brick shot a look at Scott and whispered (though Cameron could easily hear him) "What'd you say _that_ for?"

"Well what was I supposed to say?" Scott whispered back.

Cameron just sat there for a moment, staring with his jaw practically on the drywall-covered floor. Brick and Scott? No. Freaking. Way! And yet there it was, right in front of him. Brick on top of Scott and Scott holding Brick's face.

Cameron, eyes wide, stood up and ran for the front door. He was stopped, however, by the speedy Brick. "Dude, what the hell?" Brick shouted, "Why were you in the ventilation system?!"

"I- I didn't- I was just-" Cameron stuttered, trying hard to think.

"Just get out!" Scott yelled, getting up. "Fuck sake, now we've got _this _to deal with!"

"I'm sorry!" Cameron shouted, then made a quick escape out the front door.

*LINE*

Cameron was sitting in his kitchen floor breathing in and out of a paper bag for about twenty minutes.


	9. Chapter 9

Scott woke up in a bed that was not his. _Crap,_ he thought, _did I really start drinking again last night? _He didn't remember anything that had happened the night before- much less how he got here, in Brick's room. Scott quickly located his clothes on the floor, and looked for any sign that Brick had been here at all. After all, he figured, it was entirely possible that he'd just come over for a drink and passed out in Brick's room. _Yeah,_ Scott thought, _that's exactly what happened._ Scott quickly got up and got dressed.

Brick, already up, was in the kitchen making breakfast. His neck was a bit stiff from sleeping on his couch, but oh well. _At least it got me up early. _Brick thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scott peaking out from the hallway. "Well good morning," Brick smiled and waved with the spatula he was holding.

"Hey." Scott answered, looking around the room. Brick's house wasn't much different from his own, just way more decorative. There were pictures of family and friends everywhere, potted plants in the windows, throw pillows and rugs in the living room. "What happened?" Scott asked, directing his attention back to Brick.

"Well, Cameron fell through your ceiling-"

"I remember that part," Scott interrupted, "I mean, what happened _after_ that?"

"Oh," Brick answered, "Well you came over, we had a few to drink- you had _quite_ a few to drink- and then we kinda crashed. I slept on the couch, don't worry." Brick winked.

Scott blushed and said, "Well, I should probably call the landlord... and maybe the cops." he quarried, "You think I should let the police know, or will the landlord take care of it?"

"Depends, you wanna press charges?" Brick asked.

"Well," Scott thought about it, "Nah, he'll just pay for it and we'll call it good."

"Okay. Well you want to eat before you go?" Brick asked.

"No," Scott answered, "I gotta run." He began to walk to wards the door, but stopped. "Wait, I forgot something."

"What?" Brick asked.

Scott turned around and kissed Brick on the cheek, then said, "Your eggs are burning."

*LINE*

Cameron caught Scott right outside of his apartment, "Hey." Cameron waved.

"Hey, string bean. It's been a while." Scott answered, reverting to sarcasm. "What ya up to?"

"Oh, nothing..." Cameron said, avoiding eye contact. "Hey, sorry about your, uh, ceiling. I can pay for it."

"I should hope so," Scott answered, "I was just about to call and see about repairs being made, you wanna come inside and, you know, help me out with my story here?"

"Oh, sure, yeah..." Cameron answered, following Scott inside.

It was more of a mess than Cameron even remembered. He thought it must've been the shock of the moment, of falling about eight or nine feet, then seeing two guys he didn't even know very well making out. When Scott got on the phone and started talking, Cameron just watched. He saw Scott's lips move, but didn't hear his words.

After a minute Scott said, "Yeah I have him right here, you wanna talk to him?" Scott listened for a moment, then handed Cameron the phone.

Cameron had to hold the phone away from his head, the man on the other end was yelling so loud. Scott listened as they spoke, "No, it wasn't any dangerous experiments this time... I'm aware I got kicked out of my last place because of that, sir, I was just- granted, but I was only looking for my... _pet_ rat." Scott tried not to laugh, it was fun watching this. Cameron sighed, "Yes I can pay for it." He gave the landlord his credit card number and hung up the phone.

"The door's over there." Scott stated rudely, tossing his head in the direction of the door.

Cameron gave Scott his cell phone back, then apologized once more before leaving.

After Cameron left, Scott sat down on his couch in the living room and laid his head back. "I kissed him." He said quietly.

*LINE*

The next day, Monday, Brick and Scott kept glancing at one another in the office, until they looked at one another at the same time, then the two quickly looked away and stopped looking at each other.

And of course, the voice of doom, devil in Prada- bully Rafi had to show up. He decided to go for Brick first, seeing as when he'd tried picking on Scott he'd nearly been asphyxiated. He came up beside Brick and said, "Aren't you supposed to do inventory with Scott today?"

"We'll get to it." Brick mumbled, not looking up from his computer.

"Aw, are the love birds having a spat?" Rafi teased, smiling in a wickedly amused way.

Scott could practically hear the little angel and little devil on his shoulders arguing- only they weren't mini versions of him. The devil was Rafi and the angel was Jessie. The angle told Scott to come up with a comment and come up with it fast, because Rafi was killing Brick over there. The devil said, "He's a big boy, let 'm figure it out on his own." To which the angel replied, "Shut up, Rafi, no one likes you!"

Brick mumbled under his breath, Scott heard most of what he said- and it was NOT g-rated.

"What was that?" Rafi leaned in closer.

"He said shut the fuck up and leave him alone!" Scott intervened, "Jesus Christ, you're so annoying!"

"I hear that!" some guy in the back of the room shouted. "Dear god, give it a rest!"

"Well fine!" Rafi shouted, "If no one wants me here, I'm clocking out." He turned to Scott with a nasty sneer. "Have fun with your boyfriend, Scotty."

Scott stood up quickly- and angrily -and shouted back, "I will! Have fun getting fired for harassment!"

"I will!" Rafi shot back.

"Well who needs ya?!" Scott sat down just as quickly as he'd stood up, and knocked his head against his desk in pure frustration.

Brick sat there, mouth ajar, eyes wide, and all the color drained from his face. _Did he just...?_

*LINE*

Rafi stomped out to the parking lot, and unlocked his red sports car with the button on his keys.

"huh. Surprised none of the office morons followed you" a voice came from a few cars away. Rafi chuckled, but didn't look up.

"I know right?" he replied. "You'd think they'd be following me asking me how to tie their shoes" he said scornfully.

The other person laughed, "Do you know what K-D-N-P stands for?" Rafi thinks for a moment._ KDNP KDNP KDNP KIDNAP... _his heart did a tiny flip.

"Uh, Kidnap?" Rafi guessed. The person laughed again, but this time it was very close by. Rafi whirled around to face the person. The yell almost made it out of his mouth before a sock was shoved into his mouth and a bag was thrown over his head. A large car was heard screaming to a stop behind them and Rafi was thrown in.

His captor slapped on the wall next to Rafi's head and the doors slam. "Let's go!" the voice shouted. The engine screamed again as they tore out of the parking lot.

*LINE*

Scott had his head on his desk for the rest of his shift. Brick had done the inventory that Rafi had insisted they do- alone. Brick had also checked to see if Scott were a) dead, b) in a depression, or c) asleep. C it was. Brick didn't disturb him. All Brick _could_ do was think of what had happened in the past few days, were he and Scott together now? Was the kiss just a fluke on Brick's part? Or was his paranoia just a result of Rafi's constant bullying? All these questions remained in Brick's mind as he tried to work, occasionally glancing over at Scott to make sure he was _okay_.

Brick, though he seemed to be the emotionally stable one who had himself all figured out (even if he was a wuss when it came to hate from other people), was extremely afraid of how this would all work out. Scott had just pretty much come out of the closet for the both of them, which made Brick think there would be talk around the office- not to _mention_ all the comments there would be from Rafi. On the bright side, though, Scott had also made a comment regarding their (more or less) _relationship_. Then again, Scott had also made a comment like that _before_ they'd kissed the day before. This argument with himself went on for the remainder of the day, and Brick hardly got a thing done.

When it was time to clock out, Brick gathered his things and went over one cubicle to Scott's workplace. Brick saw a little bit of Scott's face through his arms, on which he was laying his head, Scott looked a lot more comfortable sleeping- more off-guard, peaceful. Cute, even. Brick blushed and pushed his thoughts aside as he gently shook Scott by the shoulder to wake him up.

Scott groaned as he woke up, regaining his ever-present frown. "Is work over yet?" was Scott's first question.

"Yeah." Brick answered. "Time to clock out."

*LINE*

Rafi woke up tied to a folding chair in a small dark room with shadowy corners. His chair was in the middle of the room, and set up against the wall he was facing was a tripod with a small camera on it.

"Oh good," Said a voice from one of the dark corners, then out came a figure, a shorter man- nice build, like a celebrity who overused photoshop -with a black hoodie and a ninja-mask covering his face. "you're awake. Did you sleep well, Rafi?"

"Like a baby." Rafi quipped, his sarcasm reflex kicking in, though his voice quivered.

Chris pressed a button on the camera as he stepped towards Rafi. "Listen, Rafi, I need to ask a favor of you..." Chris waltzed around Rafi casually, "Deliver a message for me."

Rafi, growing more scared by the second, gulped and said, "To whom?"

"Some co-workers of yours." Chris answered, "When you show up with this tape tomorrow," Chris pointed to the camera, "they'll know."

Rafi fought back the urge to scream, to cry for help- not only because of his incessant pride, but also because his capture seemed to mean business. "What will be on this tape?" he asked squeakily.

"You'll see." Chris grinned beneath his mask.

*LINE*

Brick and Scott walked uncomfortably towards their apartment building, both now out of the shock faze of having kissed _and_ one waking up in the other's bedroom, and were now in full-on awkward mode.

"So..." Brick said, trying to spark a conversation, "That Rafi huh?" He tried. Hating on Rafi was always something that got the two of them laughing.

"Right, right." Scott laughed.

"I mean, who does he think he is?" Brick laughed.

Scott shrugged, "I dunno, but it's getting annoying. Obviously he thinks he can take the Scott miester, jerk." Scott chuckled. "You got that right," Brick agreed, "What's his problem?" *LINE* "Please! Let me go!" Rafi pleaded with Chris, his face stained with tears- and his shirt stained with blood. Chris simply grinned and swung the bar of soap within a sock again, hitting him in the chest. Rafi cried out in pain and a huge bruise immediately started forming. "I'll do anything!" he shouted. Chris only laughed, "I need nothing more from you than this video" he said smugly.


	10. Chapter 10

Rafi woke up in a parking lot, the paramedics and police had already arrived. He couldn't see much, just fuzzy white and red. He heard so many voices, some of which he recognized. Brick's voice said, "Will he be okay?" Scott, though he felt he shouldn't have cared, felt a small bit of concern for Rafi. After all, Scott had been hurt just as bad years ago- no, worse. None the less, Scott found a bit of compassion slip through the emotional lock-down going on of late. "Rafael will be just fine, they were only minor cuts and some heal-able bruises." one of the paramedics explained, "Nothing to worry about." "Well are we gonna find out what happened?" Scott quizzed. "That's a question for the police." answered the paramedic, "Gotta run, you take care now." That moment, Mr. Oakland (Brick and Scott's supervisor) walked up and announced t the small group of employees that work was canceled today because of a combination of Rafi showing up to work half-dead, and a rat infestation. On the way back to their apartments, Brick and Scott were making small talk. Brick started with "I hope Rafi's okay." to which Scott nonchalantly replied, "Dido." After a moment, neither could take it anymore Scott said, "Okay, look." and stopped walking. "I can't stop thinking this. Do you think we're what caused this?" "Caused what?" Brick stopped as well. "Think about it. First Jessie, now Rafi." Scott threw his hands up dramatically. "Honestly, I don't think it's any coincidence." Brick rubbed the back of his neck and looked away for a moment, "I guess it is kinda weird..." "Weird? It's more fucking queer than you and me!" Scott took a moment to let his "joke" sink in, "And anyway, you don't think it's the tiniest bit odd that our best friend died, and not our worst enemy?! Someone is doing this shit on purpose." "No." Brick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I thought Rafi just beat himself half to death." "Whoa, attitude much?" Scott narrowed his eyes. He didn't much like this side of Brick. "Hey I'm just as psyched as the next guy that a bunch of violent crimes are being committed around our workplace." Brick snipped, "So I don't think I have any worse of an attitude than _you_." Scott was taken aback- but kept a hold of his anger, so not to let on that he even _might_ have been hurt by Brick's comments. Sure, Scott was a little bit moody once in a while, but Brick was always the one who would help him out with it- not make snide comments. The snide comments were Scott's job. "Forget it." Scott held Brick's gaze for a moment before looking away. Neither said anything for a moment, until Brick sighed. "I'm sorry." Scott looked up, seeing how puppy-kicked-by-a-steal-toed-boot Brick looked. "Eh, don't worry about it." he grinned, "My attitude is signature, it doesn't look too good on a polo-boy like you." Brick smiled, "Couldn't agree more."


	11. Chapter 11

Six days after Rafi's kidnapping and torture session, he insisted on going back to work. Mr. Oakland tried to talk Rafi into staying in the hospital for a few more days, but Rafi wouldn't budge. Under threat of a law suit, Mr. Oakland decided to give Rafi a get-well promotion.

*LINE*

When they got to work the seventh morning after Rafi's kidnapping, Brick and Scott were horrified. Rafi had been promoted. Not only was he now their boss, but Rafi could harass the both of them, and Scott couldn't stand up for either of the two. To start out with, Rafi pulled a middle-school English teacher, and wanted there to be no chit-chat between employees. He didn't _pay_ them to sit around and talk. That said, Rafi watched Brick and Scott like a hawk, once in a while coming over to check on what they were doing. Rafi would say, "What have you gotten done?" to which Brick would reply, "Some." and Scott would hold back the urge to tell Rafi to go screw himself. To top it all off, Rafi decided to keep Brick and Scott later than the other employees, so they could "catch up" to the others. Scott, however, knew that what Rafi was saying was a load of bullshit.

Days passed, and soon enough the office found itself on the twenty-fifth of January. By this time, Rafi had loosened up the smallest bit- after of course he'd received a call from the NYPD about a group therapy session with the two other men, and the investigation itself.

The session was the next afternoon, and it was just the same as any other therapy session. A woman in the cleanest, most perfect pantsuit- Brick noted -that anyone had ever seen asking condescending questions about what had happened (not even acting like she were _trying _to provide any support) all while wearing the biggest, most barbie-doll smile ever.

Scott huffed and mumbled under his breath as he and Brick walked down the street, "Jesus, why did _we_ have to do this? I mean, I know we're possible targets and everything, but that video was gruesome."

Brick clutched the strap of his designer Chiarugi leather messenger bag (A/N:*cough*man-purse*cough*) and said, "Well I don't know, I'm just glad it's over."

Meanwhile, walking down an ally in the other direction, Rafi muttered angry words under his breath, "Damn psychologists... all that insane crap... I was assaulted big de-" suddenly, Rafi was grabbed by the right arm, and there was a gun under his shoulder blade.

"So," said a voice in his ear, "we meet again, eh Rafael?"

*LINE*

"So, like, are we ever gonna really discuss this?" Brick asked out of nowhere as the two continued walking.

"Discuss what?" Scott asked, turning towards Brick.

Brick surprised Scott with a peck on the lips, "About that."

Scott blinked, "uhm, well- yeah, uh..." Scott stuttered.

Brick laughed, "Guess not right now, huh?"

*LINE*

"Here's what's gonna happen," said the voice, "we're gonna team up, you and me. In return- and here's the good part -I won't kill you."

Rafi breathed in sharply, "Sounds fair." he squeaked, "Team up how?"

*LINE*

Scott let out a long sigh, "I dunno." he said, sounding partly tired and partly embarrassed. "So are we...?" Scott didn't finish.

"Do you wanna be...?" Brick didn't finish either.

"Do _you_ wanna be?" Scott asked, stopping.

"I asked you first." Brick smirked the smallest bit.

"Yeah, but I asked you second." Scott smirked back.

*LINE*

The same voice whispered once again, "It seems the love birds are getting closer. If they've got each other, they'll figure it out, and I'll go to jail. We wouldn't want that, now would we? Be sure that they don't get any closer, Rafi." Chris shoved Rafi to the ground and bolted, out of his sight before Rafi could even look up.

**Author's note: Okay guys, I'm belting out new chapters A LOT because I basically have the whole thing laid out on a piece of paper. I will take suggestions, however, for the sequal once this book is finished.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: It's been waaay too long, and this chapter is really short and I'm not the least bit sorry about the abrupt, cliff-hanging ending to said inadequate chapter. Sorry not sorry. Review please!**

"I don't care if the schedule had a typo, you should be aware of what you need to get done! If something seemed out of the ordinary, you should have told someone!" today Rafi had decided to practice his favorite pass-time. Picking on Brick. Only now, he had a good reason. "I need those numbers fixed by the end of the day, MacArthur!"

Brick clenched his teeth the way he'd often done when being scolded by his father, "Yes, sir." he managed.

Scott stood up and began walking towards the break room angrily.

"Where are you going?" Rafi snapped, directing his attention towards Scott.

"On my lunch break- to which I am contractually entitled." Scott threw back, continuing into the break room.

Rafi glared at Brick once more before following Scott into the break room. Chris had given him distinct instructions on how to pull Brick and Scott apart, but Rafi surely did not want to execute the part of the plan that involved persuading Scott to break the ties with Brick...

"What do _you_ want?" Scott groaned upon seeing Rafi, "This is my time _away_ from you." He rolled his eyes.

Rafi smiled devilishly, "Just a simple moment of your time."

*LINE*

"You'd better be careful," Carol said, rolling her chair over to Brick's desk.

"Why?" Brick asked, looking up from his computer.

"Rafi's got yo boy alone." She winked. Carol had a way to her, it sort of reminded Brick of Jessie- only Carol was usually much more serious.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Brick waved it off, "Scott wouldn't-" Brick didn't finish his sentence, he was cut off my a loud thud coming from the break room. "I'll go see what that was..." Brick said absently, getting up. Brick made his way over to the break room door. **(A/N: OKAY I'm bad at writing scandals so I apologize in advanced if anything sucks from this point on...)**

Upon opening the break room door, Brick was shocked to see Rafi, with Scott backed up into a corner, basically mauling him with kisses. "WHAT. THE FUCK?!" Brick yelled after a moment of brief silence. As soon as Scott tried explaining, Brick said "I don't wanna hear it!" and left without giving anyone a chance to say anything.

"Get off me!" Scott shouted, pushing Rafi off him.

"What? Did I make your boyfriend mad?" Rafi said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Scott Grabbed Rafi by the shirt, "No..." He growled, "You made _his_ boyfriend mad..."


	13. Chapter 13

Exactly four hours later, Scott sat in his living room, pissed of as hell, jobless, and had an ice pack on his head. Yeah, so he'd gotten punched in the face. Yeah, Rafi had fired him. And yeah, Brick was still upset. But the good part was, Rafi was now in an emergency room somewhere, bleeding from the nose with two black eyes, too afraid to press charges.

It would be okay, right? Scott would get a new job, his headache would go away. But the only thing- the one teeny, tiny, ity-bity detail was: WHAT ABOUT BRICK? Well that was simple. Brick was upset, and it was Scott's fault. Scott knew it. So what was the problem? Why the pain and guilt twisting Scott's insides like a wet dish rag. It wasn't _really_ Scott's fault, he knew so deep down, but Brick blamed him- and Scott blamed himself. All this was true, and it had Scott mixed up in the head.

He needed a cigarette.

*LINE*

Cameron was outside his apartment door, pacing back and fourth. He needed someone to help him run the book store where he worked, he was swamped. A door opening interrupted his thoughts.

Scott stood near the railing and lit his cigarette, choking on it at first, but then getting used to it. He took slow, steady drags- not even acknowledging Cameron's existence.

"What are you looking at?" Scott quarried, blowing a smooth clod of smoke.

"What?" Cameron asked, he hadn't realized he were looking at or even anywhere near Scott.

"I _said_," Scott said irritably, "What are you looking at?"

Cameron, who just assumed Scott was still angry with him for falling through his ceiling, mumbled, "Nothing..."

A few moments passed with nothing but pure silence filling the air. Cameron was the one to break the silence. "So, what's got you creased?" he asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant.

"I got fired." Scott answered shortly, almost smiling at the memory of how angry Mr. Oakland had looked.

"Oh..." Cameron said, "What for?"

"Well, my "supirior" hit on me, so I _hit_ him... three times... he might have a concussion." Scott shrugged, taking another drag. "I regret nothing."

"Oh... well are you looking for work?"

"Right now? No. Right now I'm looking for something to kill this headache..." Scott quipped.

"Well," Cameron said, ignoring Scott's wise-crack, "I manage this nice little book store a few streets over. We're looking for help."

"We, meaning you?" Scott asked, really more of a statement than a question.

"No. We meaning Carol and I." Cameron rolled his eyes, "Carol's my boss."

"Huh. I worked with a gal named Carol..." Scott took another drag, "We didn't talk much, though."

"So, you interested?" Cameron asked, wanting to get to the point of the conversation before the subject was changed, or things got more awkward.

Scott kinda chuckled. Definitely not a happy chuckle. More of a "god, why am I being given such a good opportunity" chuckle. He put out his cigarette and said, "Sure." before lighting up another one.

*line*

Brick, as soon as he got home, began cleaning every inch of his apartment while blasting The Beatles in his ears. Brick was always the type of person who, when he needed to take his mind off of something, would have to get up and _do_ something to keep his mind occupied. It didn't matter if he had to alphabetize his book shelf, re-grout his bathroom, and knit a sweater or two. Brick refused- _refused_ to think about Scott. Putting thoughts off for as long as he could was always a good method. That is, until he ran out of books to arrange, grout to clean, yarn to knit with.

Brick did, eventually end up without a book to re-arrange, an inch of grout to clean, or even a little yarn. Brick struggled to find something to do. He memorized every word of every Beatles song on his iPod, pealed an entire bag of tangerines- and arranged them into a heart on his kitchen table, took two showers, and baked some crescent rolls. By midnight.

Scott, however, didn't fair as well as Private-OCD. He spent the entire evening in bed, only getting up every once in a while to go smoke a cigarette or something to eat- if that. He also had dreams. Some good, others not as good. The good ones were the ones people would often find weird. Like falling dreams, or dreams of being in the middle of the ocean, or even roller-coaster dreams. The bad ones were what most would classify as cute, good dreams. Dreams where he and Brick were okay, the murderer was locked up, Rafi got taken down a peg. Why were these bad? They were too good.

*LINE*

Scott started work at the book store two days later, and Brick still hadn't spoken to him. That was okay, right? Brick only needed time... right? Scott figured that space was good, he needed time to adjust to the new job anyway.

Brick, however, was falling apart at the seems. Not only had his restlessness gotten worse, but so had his irritability. The day before he'd snapped at a very sweet girl because she'd interrupted him when he was trying to configure the numbers on his computer. Brick also had trouble sleeping. He thought he'd maybe gotten three hours of sleep since.

*LINE*

"So, what is it that I actually do?" Scott asked, fiddling with the spine of a book. This store wasn't exactly his cup of tea, hipster-looking posters everywhere, older looking book shelves going floor-to-cieling, it even smelled like vanilla incense.

"Well, you'll have to ring up whatever books the customers wanna buy, maybe sweep the floors, stock the shelves, etc.." Cameron answered, "Miscellaneous tasks."

"Okay..." Scott said distantly, looking over some of the new releases. "So what do I do _now_?"

"There's some boxes in the back that need unloading." Cameron said dismissively.

**Author's note: UGH filler-chapter! sorry this sucked and had absolutely no contribution to the plot :/ I just needed something here to get to point B. gotta get to point A-and-a-half before you get to B. I promise I'll update it soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

In the book store, the days were long. Scott actually took up _reading_ in the time that there were no customers. Better than sitting on the spiral staircase craving a cigarette. Better than going home to an increasingly quiet, empty apartment.

Whilst sitting on the mint green metal spiral-stair-case, lost in _The Boy From The Basement, _Scott heard Cameron yelling and books falling. Scott laughed and kept reading.

"Scott!"

Scott didn't move.

"_Scott_!"

Scott sighed and got up, leaving is page marked on his way. "What is it string bean?" he asked, walking to the back room. Only to find a shelf knocked down and Cameron under a pile of books. Scott pinched the bridge of his nose, "Oh god, what'd you do?"

Cameron groaned, "I fell..."

"You've got a real talent for that..." Scott mumbled.

"Hey! That was a total accident." Cameron defended, trying to get up.

"It happened, any way you slice it..." Scott growled.

"What ever came of that, anyway?" Cameron asked, finally on his feet.

Scott suddenly remembered all that had happened in the past few days, and it made him dizzy. Scott shook his head, as if to shake away the recent memories. "None. Of your. Business." His voice came out colder than even Scott had expected. But that was good, right? That way Cameron would get the idea.

"What, it's none of my business if your ceiling got fixed or not?" Cameron asked sarcastically.

*LINE*

Brick and Carol sat by the water cooler, just talking- or rather, Brick ranting and Carol listening. Of course Rafi had to be listening from around the corner too.

"Why would Scott do that to me?! And with Rafi! Of all the people in this office building, Rafi!" Brick went on and on.

"Okay, look!" Carol said once she was finally sick and tired of hearing brick complain, "If you're so mad at him, why don't you go and hear _his_ side of the story? Rafi is one helluva flirt, okay? Remember that _thing_ he and Randall had for, like, a week?"

Brick took a second to process carol's words. "I see what you're saying..."

"Well then go to his place after work and resolve this so I don't have to listen to you whine anymore!" Carol griped.

"Well... okay." Brick said finally.

Rafi's eyes widened. "Fuck.." he said under his breath. Rafi walked as far away as he could and dialed Chris's number.

*LINE*

"WHAT?!" Chris yelled into the phone, "What do mean they "might" get back together?! …TONIGHT?! DO YOU KNOW the hell I went through to cover my tracks last time I killed someone?! ...No, no, you're not getting out that easy Raf, I know where you live!" Rafi said a few things to Chris, "Okay, okay. You just make sure it gets done _tonight_."

*LINE*

Cameron had to step out for a few hours, so Scott was in charge of locking up. He was standing with his back to the door, putting away some books, when the front door's bell chimed.

"Hey, we're closed." Scott said irritably.

"Say, do you know what KDNP stands for?"

**Author's note: And, scene! Cliff hanger! Not sorry in the least ^^**


	15. Chapter 15

After what felt like an eternity, the burlap sack was taken from Scott's head. Scott saw the three men talking from the corner of the room, where he'd been bound and gagged.

"Well what are we gonna do?" Rafi asked, "We can't just... you know.. _kill_ him, can we?"

"I've done it before. I can do it again..." Chris stated.

"Chris, man, this is nuts! You're gonna get caught. Especially with you-know-who hangin' around..." Chef nodded at Rafi.

"I'm right here!" Rafi scoffed.

"Don't worry," Chris assured, "If he knows what's good for him- and I know he does- he won't say a word." Chris checked his watch. "We just have to wait a few more minutes. And it'll have to be a quick job. Chef, you come with me. Raf, stay with him." Chris nodded to Scott.

"Okay..." Rafi said distantly.

When Chris and Chef left the room, Rafi immediately went over to Scott and ripped the duct tape off of his mouth. Scott yelled in pain, then proceeded to start chewing Rafi out. "WHAT the hell?! I knew you were an asshole, maybe evil- but not like _this_!"

Rafi hissed in a low whisper, "Keep your voice down, dammit!" then took his phone out of his pocket. "Look, since I'm a nice guy. I'm gonna 'accidentally' drop this phone in front of you." he dropped the phone right at Scott's feet. "And now I'm gonna look the other way, get 'distracted', and let you call someone. Mkay? 'cause that's just how 'evil' I am."

Scott sat there for a moment, almost not trusting the phone. "Fine." Scott managed.

Rafi shrugged, walked back to the table, and sat with his back to Scott.

Scott, still bound, flipped the phone open with his mouth. He then dialed with his tongue, and waited for an answer.

*LINE*

Brick stood outside Scott's door, still deciding whether to knock on the door. He'd already decided on doing it quite a few times, but chickened out right as his knuckles were about to hit the wood of the door. He was right about to repeat his fail, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up, "Hello?"

*LINE*

"Brick! Thank god." Scott whispered into the receiver.

"Scott?" Brick said on the other end, "Why are you whispering?"

"I don't know where I am," Scott whispered.

Rafi cleared his throat, "Chris McLean's Appartment bulding, private basement floor room 14..."

"Did you hear that?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, but, what are you doing there?"

"I was kidnapped! Chris, Chef, and Rafi are planning to KILL me! You gotta-" Scott was cut off by the sound of the door opening.

*LINE*

The line went dead.

"Scott? Hello? Scott, are you there?" Brick started to panic. "Oh my god." he dialed 911.

*LINE*

"Well lookie here." Chris said, walking over to Scott in the corner. He promptly stepped on Rafi's phone, crushing it. "Who ya callin, Scotty?" Chris didn't even let Scott answer, he turned to Rafi and said, "Now I wonder where he could've gotten that from?"

Rafi looked nervous, "Uh..."

"Chef." Chris said calmly. Chef grabbed Rafi and bent his arms back, then lead him out of the room.

Rafi struggled and shouted, "No! No, I didn't give it to him I swear! I swear I didn't!"

"Oh, Raf. I could let you go, but..." Chris looked him in the eye, "You don't deserve the kindness..." Chris looked to Chef, "Kill him."

"No!" Scott shouted from the corner.

"Oh, that's right. There's you." Chris sighed sarcastically. "Chef, tie ol' Raf up. I'll get to him later. In the mean time..." Chris took out his knife, "I'll tie up some loose ends..."

**Author's note: Muahahaha! Cliff hanger! Not sorry.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Last time, on When In New York: **

"Oh, that's right. There's you." Chris sighed sarcastically. "Chef, tie ol' Raf up. I'll get to him later. In the mean time..." Chris took out his knife, "I'll tie up some loose ends..."

**Will our hero make it? Find out next, on When In New York!**

"Chris, the cops'll be here any minute. We gotta get out." Chef pointed out, still holding Rafi.

"Oh, right." Chris said pointedly. He sheathed his weapon. "Next stop, my terrace."

*LINE*

Brick had the police on the way to Chris's apartment building, and he kept on calling the number that Scott had called him from. No answer.

"Look, kid," Said the officer in the driver's seat, "The best thing you can do is quit calling. If his attacker knows we're coming he could-"

"Don't say it." Brick cut her off.

*LINE*

"Wait, wait wait wait." Scott insisted, "What are you gonna do to me?!"

Chris grinned, "I'm gonna pull an Isaac Newton."

Scott waited for a few seconds, "I didn't pay attention in school, I have no idea what you mean by that, I really don't."

Chris facepalmed, "Gravity?" Scott still looked like he hadn't a clue. "I'm gonna throw you off the balcony!" he threw his arms up in an exclamatory gesture.

*LINE* *CUE NERVOUSE MUSIC*

The police, and Brick, stormed into the building. The staff were all very confused, but showed them to the basement anyway. At that point, things happened fast. Going down the elevator. Breaking into the room. Seeing Rafi's unmoving body. Someone yells "Medic!". A cell phone going off.

The police officer Brick rode in with picks it up, "Hello?"

*LINE*

*Meanwhile, on Chris's balcony*

"Oh, did you think I'd be down there? Shame." Chris chuckled. "I always was one for suprises."

Scott, still tied up and once again with duct tape on his mouth, struggled and tried to get free.

Chris kicked Scott in the ribs and continued speaking to the police officer. "Here. Let's make this a challenge..."

*LINE*

*In the basement*

The officer put the phone on speaker. "If you can get here by the time I count to thirty-five, I'll let him go. You better hurry. One..."

Brick didn't have to hear any more, he was out of the room in a split second. When the elevator wouldn't work, he made a break for the stairs.

_Three... four..._

Three floors.

_Nine... ten..._

Six floors.

_Seventeen... eighteen... _

Nine floors.

_Twenty-two... twenty-three..._

Thirteen floors.

_Twenty-seven... twenty-eight..._

Sixteen floors.

_Thirty... thirty-one..._

Hallway.

_Thirty-two..._

Door.

_Thirty-three..._

Living room.

_Thirty-four..._

Terrace.

There, on the ledge, not looking down but facing the sliding glass door, was Chris. Brick came running through the door. "Thirty-five." Chris finished.

Scott said something resembling, "Brick!" through the tape on his mouth.

Chris, ignoring him, said, "You win." and slowly, fell backwards.


	17. Chapter 17

Front page news, Chris McLean has survived a terrible fall, thanks to the efforts- and trampoline-like device- of the new york fire department. Other headlines include that of former TV show host and boy-band extraordinaire, Chris McLean was found guilty of murder, and admitted to the insane asylum. Rafiel Giovanni was found guilty of accessory to kidnapping, and given three to five in federal prison.

The day of, Brick and Scott were brought in to the police station for questioning, and statements. When they were done, Brick and Scott exited the chief of police's office, seeing in the waiting room a few people they did not want to see...

"DAD?!" Brick and Scott said in horrified unison.

There was a long awkward pause, during which the sons looked at their fathers- both of whom looked like older (and in Scott's dad's case, ahem, 'bigger') versions of themselves.

"...Well this is a nice surprise." Brick said, putting on a huge fake smile. This, added to today's events, were killing him.

"Uh, yeah..." Scott added awkwardly.

The fathers looked at each other, then back to their sons. They'd obviously been talking. The two began giving awkward apologies, and I'm-so-glad-you're-okays at the same time, much more awkward than their sons. When they were done, the four n=men were faced with yet another awkward silence.

After a moment, Brick said, "Is it just me or is anyone else starving?"

Scott immediately jumped on this subject. "Oh, yeah. Being kidnapped does work up an appetite."

The fathers looked at each other again, then back at their sons. They started talking at the same time again, only to give up and say in unison, "How about pizza?"

*LINE*

Two days later, Brick and Scott waved their dads off as they began their drive back to Canada. After they were gone, Brick and Scott got talking once again.

"I like your dad." Brick said, "He's not as bad as you made him seem."

Scott laughed, "I think that might be because I almost got thrown off a building."

The two laughed, and side-hugged, and kissed right in the middle of the sidewalk.

**Author's Note: Kay, done, whew... that took all the attention span I had. Lol I finally got over my writer's block ^^ hope you guys liked it. Look for the sequel later on! Oh, and I imagine that during the end credits there's cute, quirky pictures and stuff. "Eight Days A Week" and other Beatles songs play as we see pictures of Brick and Scott working together at the book store (Cameron is under a pile of books in the background) and Scott trying to be better at fashion, and Brick making a birthday cake for Scott. Carol taking a road-trip with them. Cute stuff ^^ I'll leave it to your mind, as the reader.**


End file.
